New blog launched on family court transparency

Prominent family law journalist, Louise Tickle, has launched a new blog exploring how to enhance the scrutiny and accountability of the family justice system. The blog is entitled The Open Family Court, and will consider the future balance between privacy and scrutiny in family law. The project is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Ideas and Pioneers Fund.

In her opening blog post, Tickle sets out an overview of the existing debate surrounding family court transparency, concluding that:

'It is clearly not going to be easy to find a way through the dilemma of how to enhance transparency and openness in family courts while still ensuring children's privacy, but I believe there are huge strides that can safely be made'

With regard to the future of the project, she states:

'My plan is to run a series of consultative events and workshops over the next nine months, drawing on the knowledge, experience and insights of family members, care leavers, social workers, adopters, foster carers and legal professionals...

...Through facilitated sessions, I'm hoping to create an environment where we can challenge and creatively disrupt existing ways of thinking about privacy and free speech in family cases; unpick seemingly intractable problems to work out what they consist of today, as opposed how they looked nearly 60 years ago; and generate thoughtful and safe solutions to a conundrum caused by a law that many feel is no longer fit for purpose.'